4 individual tarlets

For the dough:

200 g all-purpose flour
80 g butter at room temperature
1 egg
1 Tbsp evaporated cane sugar
Water
Pinch of salt

For the pears and almond cream:

4 pears (medium to small size and firm texture) ; I used Comice Pears
2 eggs
150 ml heavy cream
280 g almond powder (called also sometimes almond flour, basically almonds crushed so that it looks like a very fluid powder)
50 g sugar

For the syrup:

150 g sugar
2 star anises
Zest of one lemon
500 ml water

For the coulis:

4 tbsp marmalade
4 tbsp (or more depending on how you prefer the consistency) syrup from pears


Steps:

Start with the syrup. Mix together the water and sugar, with the lemon zest and star anises. Bring to a boil.
Peel the pears and from the bottom, make a hole in order to be able to remove the inside seeds and harder parts of the pears. Leave the stems on. While doing one, squeeze some lemon juice on it so that it does not darken.
Place the pears in the hot syrup and cook for about 20 mns, until tender but not longer (you want to keep the pears firm). When done, remove them to cool off and reserve some of the syrup for the coulis.
To make the dough, place all the dough ingredients in a food processor ( or by hand), starting with mixing together the flour and butter, then adding the sugar and salt, the egg and the water. Add enough water for the dough to be elastic but not sticky. Place in a covered bowl in the fridge until ready to use.
Preheat your oven at 420 F (210 C).
To make the almond cream, mix together the almond powder and sugar, then add the cream and then the eggs.
Roll your dough in individual buttered molds (with a sufficiently high edge). I use ceramic molds.
Make little holes at the bottom with a fork.
Place one pear in the middle of each mold and pour the cream around.
Place in the oven for about 25 mns, until the crust has a nice golden color.
To make the coulis, take a pot and heat the marmalade with 4 tbsp of the reserved syrup.
Place a tart on each plate with the syrup around.